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1990 Mazak VQC 15/40 Experiences/Reviews

c5h5nino

Aluminum
Joined
Oct 30, 2015
Hello,

I am pretty close to pulling the trigger on a 1990 Mazak VQC 15/40 Milling Machine. The machine is in excellent shape for its age and at an affordable price to boot. Just figured I would poll the community to get any insight about the machine...positives, negatives, things to watch out for, etc. Any information would be great!

Thanks,
Lewis
 
I like mazaks
well supported regardless of age.
that said make darn sure you have parameter backup in hand before shipping to your location
 
Thanks for the input! The control is a Mazatrol M32 and it has a 6k spindle. Luckily he has all of the parameters backed up on floppys!
 
Thanks for the input! The control is a Mazatrol M32 and it has a 6k spindle. Luckily he has all of the parameters backed up on floppys!
Cool.

The floppy's will be Mazak disk drive specific disks, so you need one of their readers or a Mazak tech to put them back, but at least you have them.

The main frustrations I have with my vqc20/40a is:
-super slow drip feeding. I can only pump about 10 lines a second, which with a lot of things is OK but when you do anything 3d, you notice the 'steps' as it's running where the controller can't keep up. The lack of memory on it also means I can't just transfer the files to the controller. Not sure if the transfer speeds and memory size is much faster or bigger on the m32 as I have an m2.

-spindle speed is well on the slow side for small end mills or aluminium work, but my spindle is only 4k so the 6 would help with this.

-table/travel size. More of a personal thing but I'd prefer like a 1000mm travel but it is what it is.

Apart from this thing's it's a weapon. Very solid with its gantry style setup.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the input! The control is a Mazatrol M32 and it has a 6k spindle. Luckily he has all of the parameters backed up on floppys!

These are very well built machines, there are lots of them out there. Some have 10,000 RPM spindles.

Several things to be aware of, not a cause for alarm:

The M32 control, not the M32A has a floppy drive on the front of the CNC chassis in the electrical cabinet. There are normally 1 or 2 floppies that are used there. These are not the same as a microdisk (CMT mode) floppy backup of parameters. Make sure you have the disk labeled BND- some numbers and "system". Remove the disk for safe keeping and put the paper shipping insert, or any non critical disk in the drive for shipping. Put the system disk back in before powering up after the move. You will need the BND numbers if a replacement is ever needed, don't loose that information!
When the gell cell battery on the inside left door runs down, you will get a system loading bar on the screen when power is turned on. The system disk in that drive is being read into memory. It is a sign that the battery needs to be replaced soon if it will not hold a charge for overnight.

For any new to the machine CAT 40 holders, put them in the magazine by hand before using them in the spindle.
Once you see how they fit in the pocket, there needs to be a groove below the CAT 40 flange on the larger holders, otherwise you break a pocket when putting it in from the spindle. If you have CAT 40 stuff already, try them all first and any that won't fit properly can be dealt with early on. One operator in a shop broke 5-6 pockets before quitting and called me for a service call to see why they were breaking.

Many of these machines have 2 pallet changers and they need to come apart for the move.

As always on a new to you machine, make sure the lube system is working properly and all points are getting oil.

Bill
 
Thanks for all of the information! Are there replacement batteries available? This machine does not have a pallet changer. Is there anything else that needs to be done to the machine prior to the move?
 
Yeah batteries are available. Not cheap but what is. As for transport. Make sure you have the spindle supported on timber from the table. Others may also identify other details required

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
 
A shop I worked in had one, it was a good machine, except for the tool changer. This one had the tool chain and used Y axis to move over to the pocket to pick the tool up. Sometimes it would grab the tool enough to think it was in all the way then crash into the part you were machining. They had to have the spindle reground once because it really ate the taper up bad.
I ran it allot myself, it didnt seem to matter what pocket you got a tool out of or if it was a light or heavy tool just very random.
 
These are very well built machines, there are lots of them out there. Some have 10,000 RPM spindles.

Several things to be aware of, not a cause for alarm:

The M32 control, not the M32A has a floppy drive on the front of the CNC chassis in the electrical cabinet. There are normally 1 or 2 floppies that are used there. These are not the same as a microdisk (CMT mode) floppy backup of parameters. Make sure you have the disk labeled BND- some numbers and "system". Remove the disk for safe keeping and put the paper shipping insert, or any non critical disk in the drive for shipping. Put the system disk back in before powering up after the move. You will need the BND numbers if a replacement is ever needed, don't loose that information!
When the gell cell battery on the inside left door runs down, you will get a system loading bar on the screen when power is turned on. The system disk in that drive is being read into memory. It is a sign that the battery needs to be replaced soon if it will not hold a charge for overnight.

For any new to the machine CAT 40 holders, put them in the magazine by hand before using them in the spindle.
Once you see how they fit in the pocket, there needs to be a groove below the CAT 40 flange on the larger holders, otherwise you break a pocket when putting it in from the spindle. If you have CAT 40 stuff already, try them all first and any that won't fit properly can be dealt with early on. One operator in a shop broke 5-6 pockets before quitting and called me for a service call to see why they were breaking.

Many of these machines have 2 pallet changers and they need to come apart for the move.

As always on a new to you machine, make sure the lube system is working properly and all points are getting oil.

Bill

Hello

I am fairly sure that the machine VQC 15 that i just bought had a new battery and reloaded parameters before the move... but i do have a loading bar when starting the machine when its been off for a longer time..

What battery do i need to change? i thought they replaced the battery and reloaded parameters before the move..

When i was down to look at it the first time the machine dident boot up because it lost battery and all parameters.. mazak did a reload and new battery but i still get a loading bar when starting the machine after its been off for some days.
 
We had a VQC 20/40B and we got rid of it because Mitsubushi did not stock electronic parts for it anymore and the tool changer was slow. But it did run and cut just fine. We upgraded to the 510 series VMC.
 








 
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